01World11h ago

US strikes southern Iran again, including Qeshm Island

American forces carried out a fresh round of strikes on targets across southern Iran, including Qeshm Island. Qeshm sits in the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow channel between Iran and Oman through which roughly a fifth of the world's oil passes. Iran hosts naval and missile facilities on and around the island, making it central to any attempt to threaten or defend shipping through the strait.

Striking Hormuz-adjacent military sites puts the world's most important oil chokepoint directly in play.

02Money14h ago

Fed holds rates steady and long-term yields jump anyway

The Federal Reserve left its short-term policy rate unchanged, yet yields on longer-dated US Treasury bonds rose. The Fed directly sets only overnight rates. Long-term yields are set by investors, and they climb when those investors expect more inflation or doubt the central bank will fight it hard enough. So the move is a market verdict on Chairman Kevin Warsh's resolve, and it raises borrowing costs for mortgages and companies regardless.

Mortgage and corporate borrowing costs track long yields, so a hold at the Fed does not mean cheaper credit.

03World11h ago

US strikes Iran again, ending a days-long pause

American forces began launching strikes on Iran on Wednesday, restarting open hostilities after a lull of several days that had raised expectations of de-escalation. The renewed US attack followed a surprise Iranian missile attack. Fighting between the two had paused rather than stopped, and the resumption puts the conflict back on an escalating path, with oil markets and shipping through the Gulf the most immediately exposed.

A pause that looked like the start of a settlement has instead become an interval in an ongoing war.

04Sport6h ago

FIFA wants up to $20bn of private money in the World Cup

FIFA, football's global governing body, is exploring a plan to raise as much as $20 billion from private investors, effectively selling outside stakes in commercial rights tied to the World Cup, its main source of income. The tournament generates billions in broadcast and sponsorship revenue that FIFA redistributes to national associations. Critics, including fan groups and several federations, say handing investors a claim on that revenue would put returns ahead of the game and set the sport's biggest asset partly outside FIFA's control.

If it proceeds, private capital gains a permanent claim on football's most valuable event.

05World12h ago

US strikes Iran after Iranian missiles targeted American troops

The US military says it has launched heavy strikes on Iran, describing them as a response to Iranian missiles fired at American forces in the Middle East on Tuesday. Washington keeps tens of thousands of troops at bases across the Gulf, Iraq, Syria and Jordan, all within range of Iran's missile arsenal, which is why direct exchanges between the two states escalate faster than proxy fighting. The scale of damage and casualties on either side has not been detailed.

Direct state on state strikes replace the proxy attacks that had kept US Iran conflict contained.

06Health11h ago

Red Bull-linked studies helped block alcohol mixing warnings

Independent research has found that mixing energy drinks with alcohol is associated with heavier drinking and riskier behaviour, because caffeine masks the sedative cues that tell people they are drunk. Studies tied to Red Bull reported no such risk, and were used to argue against putting warning labels about alcohol on energy drink cans. Regulators accepted that evidence, and the labels were not required.

Industry-funded science shaped what a warning label does not say on hundreds of millions of cans.

07World3h ago

Missile blast leaves 10m crater deep inside Poland, likely Russian

A missile struck farmland near Tarnawa Kolonia in eastern Poland, gouging a crater about 10 metres across, roughly 100km from the Ukrainian border. Poland's prime minister said it was probably Russian. Poland is a NATO member, so any deliberate strike on its soil touches the alliance's mutual defence commitment. In November 2022 a missile killed two people in the Polish village of Przewodow, later assessed as a stray Ukrainian air defence round, showing how hard attribution is and how much it matters.

Attribution decides whether this is spillover debris or an armed attack on NATO territory.

08Money12h ago

Samsung's profit beat estimates again on AI memory chip demand

Samsung Electronics reported second-quarter operating profit above analysts' forecasts, extending a record run. The driver is memory, specifically the high-bandwidth chips stacked beside AI processors to feed them data fast enough. Samsung is the world's largest memory maker, and after falling behind rival SK Hynix in supplying Nvidia, it has been recovering share as demand outstrips supply. Memory prices are cyclical, and this upswing is being pulled by data centre construction rather than phones or laptops.

Memory prices are the clearest read on whether the AI datacentre build-out is still accelerating.

09World7h ago

Russian strike debris landed inside Poland, a NATO member

Russia launched a large overnight missile and drone barrage across Ukraine, killing at least 13 people including children and setting fires in several cities. Debris and an explosion were then reported on Polish territory, and Prime Minister Donald Tusk prepared to visit the impact site in eastern Poland. Poland is a NATO member, so any strike on its soil raises the question of Article 5, the alliance clause treating an attack on one as an attack on all. Estonia's president said the war endangers lives well beyond Ukraine.

Each violation of NATO airspace tests how the alliance responds without being drawn into the war.

10World11h ago

Japan digs for shoppers trapped in quake-hit Aeon mall

A strong earthquake in Japan brought down part of an Aeon shopping mall, and rescuers are working through the debris to reach people trapped inside. Survivors described dust pouring through the building like volcanic ash. Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi called the operation a race against time, the standard framing for the first 72 hours after a collapse, when the chance of pulling someone out alive drops sharply. Aeon is Japan's largest retail chain, with malls anchoring suburban towns.

Japan's building codes are among the world's strictest, so a partial mall collapse will draw hard scrutiny.

11World3h ago

Rand Paul moves to hold Fauci in contempt of Congress

Anthony Fauci led the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for nearly four decades and became the public face of the American pandemic response. Senator Rand Paul, who has clashed with him repeatedly over the origins of Covid-19, is now moving to hold him in contempt of Congress after Fauci invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination rather than answer questions. Separately, the Trump administration announced a new rule narrowing the asylum process.

Contempt proceedings would escalate a long-running political fight over pandemic decisions into a legal one.

12World11h ago

Israeli strikes burn buildings in Gaza City's Shati camp

Israeli strikes hit Gaza City on Wednesday, setting buildings alight in the Shati refugee camp on the coast and displacing dozens of families. Shati, also called Beach camp, was set up in 1948 for Palestinians who fled or were expelled during the war around Israel's founding, and became one of Gaza's most densely packed neighbourhoods. Families there have already been displaced repeatedly during the war, and many were sheltering in damaged buildings.

Strikes on Gaza City continue despite the ceasefire framework, and each one pushes already displaced families to move again.